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| 2. |
- Creswell, Philip K., 1982-
(författare)
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Chains of Trust : Networks of Persistent Resistance in Digital Activism
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Digital manifestations and their networks are seen as agile, but fragile, with the Internet facilitating fast, low-cost activism by bridging actors, distributing information, and circumventing gatekeepers. From this perspective, mediated collective action and digital activism are theorized through the understanding of the Internet as a medium which affords lowered costs and risks for activists. Such theories, however, side-step the phenomenon of hacktivism, where the costs and risks of participation may be higher. Moreover, while issues of legality and risk play an integral part in understanding the phenomenon of hacktivism, they have rarely been studied directly. As such, little evidence exists regarding the effects of increased costs and risks on participation in digital activism. Nonetheless, the research record from non-mediated collective action and activism shows that higher-risk or higher-cost activism is most often supported by tight organizational or interpersonal networks. Such ties, strong or otherwise, frequently go uninterrogated in research on digital activism. To investigate these issues, I performed a three-year ethnography in the digital (social movement) scene called Anonymous. Anonymous has been associated with, among other things, digital protest, and hacktivist actions. These protests and hacking actions have resulted in legal consequences for hundreds of participants throughout the world, some of whom are still awaiting trial or serving prison sentences. Using risks and costs as a lens to explore Anonymous’ digital activism, I aim to interrogate scholars’ understandings and conceptualizations of mediated collective action, as well as the nature of interpersonal ties and trust in uncertain, high-cost, or high-risk, mediated activism. I ask how participants characterized the costs and risks of their participation, as well as how they navigated collaborative relationships and assessed the trustworthiness of peers. My analysis shows that participants in Anonymous viewed their participation as risky and narratively tied increased risks to a series of arrests which took place in 2011 and 2012. Consequently, participants attempted to mitigate the risks of their participation through individual and collective strategies that encouraged the development of clusters of activists who participated in increasingly tight-knit, closed groups. Network closure, in turn, encouraged the formation of bonding ties and affective loyalty. While openly acknowledging the risks of such bonds, participants relied upon them and even justified continued participation through a social lens. These findings exemplify conditions—those characterized by network closure and groups where members are enmeshed in clusters of strong ties—which can be understood as strong, mediated ties. This study offers, therefore, not only a novel understanding of Anonymous, but also evidence that suggests that models of mediated collective action should account for risks and costs even in digital milieus. Furthermore, these findings suggest circumstances under which re-searchers may expect to find persistent resistance in an (almost entirely) digital milieu.
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| 3. |
- Creswell, Philip K., 1982-
(författare)
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Digital (Social Movement) Scenes
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, I expand the concept of a social movement scene by applying it to the context of digital activism. Research and theory about digital activism are broadly split into two camps: crowd-based models of activism structured and organized by networked communication; and models which theorize the importance of groups of activists and media ecologies. These two camps are often split methodologically between large-N network analyses and ethnographies, respectively, and often treated as non-overlapping magisteria. I argue that they are part of a single model. I offer, therefore, a way to conceptually bridge these two research trajectories: digital scenes. I define scenes as networks of people and places with overarching (sub)cultural intersubjectivity and localized idiocultural performances. I exemplify how researchers can use this analytically by applying it to the difficult-to-define, but rather ‘purely’ digital phenomenon of Anonymous. Understanding Anonymous as a scene clarifies Anonymous as a case and emphasizes the role of prefiguration, social relays and personal contacts for understanding digital activism. Finally, I conclude that scenes are useful because they are a scalable analytical tool that can help researchers focus on relations within and between movements, bridging micro-analysis of unique movement groups with overarching sociocultural formations.
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| 4. |
- Creswell, Philip K., 1982-
(författare)
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Feds Everywhere : Risk and Risk-mitigation in Anonymous Chat Rooms
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Activism online is often presented as thin, low-cost engagement, accomplished by clicking Like on Facebook or using Twitter hashtags to express political opinions. Some activists, however, use the Internet differently, making political statements using methods that are illegal or legally questionable. Anonymous—a network of activists, hackers, and provocateurs—is arguably the most well-known of such actors. Participation in Anonymous actions can carry personal risks, as activists associated with Anonymous have faced legal consequences—from fines to imprisonment—in several countries. Using material generated from participant observation in Anonymous chat rooms, I analyze which risks of participation are publicly identified, how they are discussed, and the individual and collective strategies of risk-mitigation. This analysis makes a unique contribution by investigating a case that suggests that the subjective experience of risk is acknowledged and accounted for by activists online. I suggest that this has consequences for how researchers should approach political engagement online and the study of high-risk activism in the digital age.
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| 6. |
- Creswell, Philip K., 1982-
(författare)
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"See, 'Trust' Is a Word Rarely Used in Here..." : Mistrust, Credibility and Collaboration among Anonymous Hacktivists
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- It has been over a decade since the first political manifestations of the digital scene dubbed Anonymous. In that time, the hacktivist arena has seen increased policing, high-profile arrests, and the introduction of state actors posing as hacktivists. Engagement in this arena, where actors are anonymous or pseudonymous, introduces challenges forparticipants because alters may be like-minded participants or something else entirely: federal agents, trolls, or rivals from other networks. Using an analysis of observations in Anonymous chat rooms and interviews with hacktivists, I show that participants respond to these uncertainties by structuring their interactions and organizing public discussions in ways which manage risks from law enforcement, external antagonists and internal rivals. Through codified and openly discussed strategic protection of one’s personally identifying information, as well as subcultural norms of obfuscation through humor, participants signal their assessment of the milieu as risky. However, many participants also rely on circle sof associates and even friends for information, threat assessment, collaborative projects and emotional support. This suggests that while perceptions of risk may increase barriers to cooperation in mediation, it may also lead to individuals developing stronger interpersonal ties with alters. This finding contrasts portrayals of Anonymous as a ‘pure’ example of swarm or crowd behavior online. Rather than finding activists who perform fleeting activism and lack social infrastructure, my analysis suggests that activists have developed strong, persistent, collaborative relationships; asocial sinew at the center of the swarm.
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| 7. |
- Creswell, Philip K., 1982-
(författare)
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The Tyranny of Protocols : Tensions between Values and Affordances in an Anonymous Chat Room
- 2015
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Modern social movements have been characterized as what Manuel Castells calls networked social movements. These movements are mobile, horizontal, opposed to top-down hierarchy, anti-corruption, and intentionally opposed to participating in ‘normal’ politics. He argues that the focus among these groups on communicative autonomy and horizontal organization are wins for movements opposed to corruption and elitism in a post-democratic society .In this paper, I focus on one type of networked social movement in the form of the hacktivist collective Anonymous. Investigating the use of sanctions and moderation in chat rooms, I arrive at the conclusion that the protocols which define thei rcommunicative space also contradict their values. I suggest, echoing Freeman (1970), that the lack of formal organization and the maintenance of a hierarchy within the Anonymous chat rooms leads to the existence of small groups who become a de facto leadership.
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| 8. |
- Creswell, Philip K., 1982-
(författare)
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Ties in Mediated Activism : A Presentation about the Possible Importance of Relationships in Risky Activism Online
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- An individual’s recruitment and commitment to activism has been repeatedly shown to be tied to pre-existing network ties. The riskier or costlier the activism one is involved in, the stronger the ties are expected to be in order to galvanize action. Therefore, embeddedness in social networks and shared social ties are important for theorizing involvement in and commitment to a movement. The nature of these ties, however, is rarely theorized beyond a “weak/strong” axis and this matter is exacerbated by the introduction of computer mediation. This paper assesses the literature of both network theory and social movements, while drawing on work about mediated emotions. I suggest that understanding the content of social ties—that is, shared emotional intensity, intimacy, frequency of contact and reciprocity—may be important to understanding engagement in mediated high-cost or high-risk activities.
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| 9. |
- Creswell, Philip K., 1982-
(författare)
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What on Earth Is Anonymous a Case Of? : Demystifying a Digitally-enabled Social Movement scene in the Era of Pseudonymity
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Anonymous is notoriously difficult to define. The network or group or brand (or whatever) has been described as a “loose collective of anarchists,” “loose group of Internet denizens,” “nebulous collective,” “rhizomatic,” “hacker network,” “vigilantes,” “e-bandits,” and even so banally as “online activists.” Recently, several authors have argued that Anonymous is an example of new forms of organization and activism. My aim is to clarify and demystify the case of Anonymous for researchers. In doing so, I develop the concept of social movement scenes in a digital milieu. I argue, based on an exhaustive literature review, that Anonymous’ activism is but part of a digitally-enabled social movement scene. I show that the Anonymous scene—with its roots in the epicentre of subcultural trolling known as 4chan.org—is part of a broader imageboard scene that has had outsized influence in the modern politics and culture of the Internet. This network of people and places has served as the seedbed for several high profile online social movements. Understanding Anonymous as a part of a scene clarifies what Anonymous is a case of, how its paradoxes are a consequence of naming, and how it does not need to force us to rethink social movements theory. Instead, the simple analytical tool of scenes can be used to understand the way in which ostensibly non-political websites and communities have led to some of the most characteristic and visible protest and activism in the digital age.
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| 10. |
- Langa, María Florencia, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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Aligned with the Dead : Representations of Victimhood and the Dead in Anti-Police Violence Activism Online
- 2019
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Ingår i: Death Matters. - Cham : Palgrave Macmillan. - 9783030114848 - 9783030114855 ; , s. 199-220
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this chapter, we analyze the way Black Lives Matter activists represent the victims of police killings in online media, in a context where African Americans are criminalized both in life and after death. Departing from Peirce’s semiotic theory, we find that activists reconstruct the deceased’s personhood by identifying them with a larger victimized collective and with the protestors themselves as potential victims of racialized police violence. We also find that activists frame their claims visually, utilizing different modes of representation in different contexts. In doing so, the dead not only become full persons again, but also postmortem actors. The dead join the fight against police killings of African Americans.
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